Never mind, Mark Romanek and Nicolas Winding Refn won't be directing Cinderella and The Equalizer, respectively

While the prospects of both a new Cinderella and an adaptation of The Equalizer carried with them the onuses of being, respectively, yet another "dark fairy-tale reimagining" and movie based on an old TV show, these burdens were alleviated somewhat by having stylish, unusual directors Mark Romanek and Nicolas Winding Refn attached to each. Well, never mind. Deadline reported Monday that Romanek has exited Disney's Cinderella project, after the studio balked at the "darker" vision the One Hour Photo director had for the project that Disney apparently didn't realize he would have, even after he dropped out of Universal's The Wolfman for similar reasons. ("We want 'Tim Burton dark,' not actual dark," Disney likely said during one of its many "darkening" meetings.) And today Collider reports that Drive director Refn will not be bringing his sense of retro-cool to the Denzel Washington-starring The Equalizer, leaving due to "unknown reasons." Both projects are now searching for other, likely less interesting and therefore easier to control filmmakers.